Just two days before the presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump gave a speech condemning the media, while his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris addressed a historically Black church in Michigan, a key battleground state.
Recent opinion polls reveal a close race between Trump and Harris, with the vice president garnering strong support among women voters and Trump making strides with Hispanic voters, particularly men.
During his Sunday address, Trump diverged from his usual campaign rhetoric, making statements about reporters being shot and remarking that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House following his 2020 election defeat to President Joe Biden. He also resurrected old grievances about being prosecuted after trying to overturn his defeat four years ago.
Throughout the Pennsylvania rally, Trump intensified his verbal attacks against a “grossly incompetent” national leadership and the American media, steering his speech at one point onto the topic of violence against members of the press.
The former president, who survived two assassination attempts this year, including a near-miss at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, spoke of the protective glass surrounding him and said that, “to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news and I don’t mind that so much.”
Recently, in Arizona, the top prosecutor initiated an investigation after Trump said that prominent Republican critic Liz Cheney should face gunfire in combat, stating that Cheney would not be willing to support foreign wars if she had “nine barrels shooting at her.”
Following Sunday’s speech, Trump’s campaign spokesperson clarified that his comments on the glass were a reference to threats against him, asserting that the president’s statement about protective glass placement “has nothing to do with the media being harmed or anything else. It was about threats against him that were spurred on by dangerous rhetoric from Democrats.”
Trump continued to rail against the media, gesturing to TV cameras and saying, “ABC, it’s ABC, fake news, CBS, ABC, NBC. These are, these are, in my opinion, in my opinion, these are seriously corrupt people.”
Meanwhile, Harris delivered a markedly different message to a Michigan church congregation, emphasising faith, unity, and hope. She told the audience that God offers America a “divine plan strong enough to heal division” and urged Americans to choose a path away from “chaos, fear and hate.” Quoting from the bible, the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, she said, “I see a nation determined to turn the page on hate and division and chart a new way forward.”
Harris’s speech avoided direct mention of Trump, focusing instead on themes of healing and shared purpose. Later that day, she planned additional stops across Michigan, a crucial state for her campaign.
Trump’s schedule included appearances in North Carolina and Georgia, The two states own 16 of the 270 votes respectively that a candidate must receive in the state-by-state Electoral College to win the president, are the second-largest prizes up for grabs on Tuesday among the seven US states deemed competitive. Pennsylvania, with 19 electors, is in first place.
(Al Jazeera)
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